"On 9 March 2007, Nancy Newfield and Steve Locke handled an
interesting male Ruby-throated Hummingbird. This bird was a
youngster when he was originally banded on 9 November 2006 in
Covington, Louisiana. At that time, he showed no colored feathers on
his heavily stippled throat. His maxilla showed approximately 70%
corrugations, an indication of immaturity, and he was not molting
primaries, rectrices, nor any body feathers.

This young dude did not spend the winter months at the site where he
was banded, but he probably stayed in the area. It seems very
unlikely that he would have migrated to Mexico and then migrated back
before the flood of mature males.

On 9 March, we noted that he still carried 20% maxillar corrugations
and he was actively molting his wing and tail feathers. Primary #8
was growing in and the middle tail feathers had been replaced with
adult type feathers. However, he still showed immature white-tipped
outer rectrices.

We caught this guy again on 1 April, when the current images were
made. Note that he now has 2 red gorget feathers and some gaps where
feathers are missing from the throat. Primary #10 is grown in about
70% while rectrix #5 is nearly 80% in. Thus the adult wing and tail
feathers are nearly in but the gorget still has a long way to go. In
my experience with these birds, within a week or so, the gorget area
will be a mass of pin feathers and he will appear very shabby. Then,
after a bout of scratching, nearly all of the sheaths will break open
and flake off, leaving a bright, shiny adult male gorget.

Sometimes, it is assumed that the gorget develops by adding a feather
or two all through the winter months. However, for some of these
late bloomers, maturation will be all of a sudden. It would be very
nice to know where birds like this one originate. At this site, we have
already handled several 'second year' males that were banded in July 2006.
They have all developed full adult plumage."

Please post your comments to Humnet, humband, or
the Hummingbird Forum rather than to the web
site.
Nancy Newfield
nancy@casacolibri.net